The Lamp in the Desert eBook

He stood back with dignity that Monck might pass,
but Monck stood still. He looked at Peter with
a level scrutiny for a few moments. Then:
“It is enough,” he said, with brief decision.
“When I am not with your mem-sahib, I
look to you to guard her.”

Peter made his stately salaam. Without
further words, he conveyed the fact that without his
permission no man might enter the room behind him
and live.

Very softly Monck turned the handle of the door and
passed within, leaving him alone in the moonlight.

CHAPTER II

EVIL TIDINGS

They walked on the following morning over the pine-clad
hill and down into the valley beyond, a place of running
streams and fresh spring verdure. Stella revelled
in its sweetness. It made her think of Home.

“You haven’t told me anything about your
brother,” she said, as they sat together on
a grey boulder and basked in the sunshine.

“Haven’t I?” Monck spoke meditatively.
“I’ve got a photograph of him somewhere.
You must see it. You’ll like my brother,”
he added, with a smile. “He isn’t
a bit like me.”

She laughed. “That’s a recommendation
certainly. But tell me what he is like!
I want to know.”

Monck considered. “He is a short, thick-set
chap, stout and red, rather like a comedian in face.
I think he appreciates a joke more than any one I
know.”

“He sounds a dear!” said Stella; and added
with a gay side-glance, “and certainly not in
the least like you. Have you written yet to break
the news of your very rash marriage?”

“Yes, I wrote two days ago. He will probably
cable his blessing. That is the sort of chap
he is.”

“It will be rather a shock for him,” Stella
observed. “You had no idea of changing
your state when you saw him last summer.”

There fell a somewhat abrupt silence. Monck was
filling his pipe and the process seemed to engross
all his thoughts. Finally, rather suddenly, he
spoke. “As a matter of fact, I didn’t
see him last summer.”

“You didn’t see him!” Stella opened
her eyes wide. “Not when you went Home?”

“I didn’t go Home.” Monck’s
eyes were still fixed upon his pipe. “No
one knows that but you,” he said, “and
one other. That is the first secret out of Bluebeard’s
chamber that I have confided in you. Keep it close!”

Stella sat and gazed; but he would not meet her eyes.
“Tell me,” she said at last, “who
is the other? The Colonel?”

He shook his head. “No, not the Colonel,
You mustn’t ask questions, Stella, if I ever
expand at all. If you do, I shall shut up like
a clam, and you may get pinched in the process.”

She slipped her hand through his arm. “I
will remember,” she said. “Thank
you—­ever so much—­for telling
me. I will bury it very deep. No one shall
ever suspect it through me.”

“Thanks,” he said. He pressed her
hand, but he kept his eyes lowered. “I
know I can trust you. You won’t try to find
out the things I keep back.”